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Copywriting Secrets of the Masters:

Michael Masterson

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How Long Should a Sales Letter Be?

Sales letters – how long should they be? In this age of multitasking and the

Internet, isn’t it more sensible for marketers to send short ones to

prospective customers?

That’s the question posed by Connie Prin, an AWAIer from Grand Rapids, MI.

“As a decently educated busy parent and community volunteer

trying to build a new career, I cannot, do not, and would not invest the amount of time in reading sales letters that often come to

resemble written „infomercials,‟ whether via Internet or direct mail. Only for this copywriting program do I suffer through as many as I

do. MORE and more people must share this same perspective in dealing with increasing competition for our attention in this era of

the „information availability‟ explosion.

“Even Tim Ferris, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, whose writing

you featured a while back in ETR, advocates nixing newspapers and uninvited e-mail completely in order to take control of productively

scheduling your time.

“Wouldn’t a more effective style of copywriting concise the sales

message to a page or two? Unless your intention is that more people base a letter’s credibility (and thus, their order) on the

amount of content rather than actually having to read the whole

thing.

“My gut tells me in order for people to read through them, effective letters will have to be shortened in the overall picture. You and

your successful team know far more than I - but I can’t be that

wrong about this… or can I?”

The answer, dear Connie, in a word, is yes, you are wrong. At least when it

comes to want-to-know information products.

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Let me explain.

There are two kinds of information products that can be sold by mail (posted mail or e-mail): need-to-know products and want-to-know products. The

need-to-know products would include information about food, clothing, fertilizer (for gardeners), auto parts (for mechanics), labor law case analyses

(for labor law lawyers), etc. The want-to-know products would include just about everything Early to Rise sells: how-to information on becoming

healthier, wealthier and wiser.

Do you see the difference?

Need-to-know products don’t need long copy because the customer needs them. In order to sell a need-to-know product, the copywriter has to do two

things: establish the product’s USP and make the offer irresistible. You can do those two things relatively quickly – usually in two pages or less. That’s

why need-to-know products are so often sold by catalog and by space ads –

two direct-marketing methods that don’t give the copywriter much room.

To sell want-to-know products, you need more length. That’s because you have to do something you don’t have to do with need-to-know products: you

have to stir up a desire for the product where none existed. People don’t actually need another book, newsletter, or CD collection on negotiating or

investing. But when a good copywriter gets finished talking to them (via a long sales letter) they think they do.

It’s counterintuitive, but it’s true: When it comes to want-to-know products,

longer letters usually work better than shorter ones. That has always been true and it’s still true today – even with e-mail sales letters.

The feeling you have is based on logic and your own experience as a

consumer. You are very busy. You don’t have time to read long letters. You

throw most of them in the trash or delete them. Like Tim Ferris, you are annoyed by all this long copy. So if you hate long copy so much, doesn’t

everybody?

Well, yes! Everybody hates long copy. At least that’s what everybody says. But the truth is that though we think we don’t like long copy, we respond to

it. If you have bought any want-to-know products in the past, Connie, you

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probably responded to a long sales letter – even though you don’t like them.

(AWAI’s Retire This Year promo is 32 pages!)

I used to do focus groups with my clients’ customers. I would ask those people which they preferred: short sales letters or longer ones. They all said

they preferred shorter sales letters. Yet they had all become our customers by responding to the longer ones my clients were sending out!

I have personally overseen at least a hundred long copy vs. shorter copy

tests. When the leads were the same, the long copy always did better.

I had Jason Holland, my research assistant, contact three of the top copywriters working today and ask them, “How long was your best-selling

sales letter?”

John Forde said: “My most successful promo this year, measured in

subscriptions sold, clocked in at 32 pages. And this, by the way, is a promo I actually wrote seven years ago and have been revising and updating ever

since. It‟s added thousands of readers to a resource-investing newsletter, and it‟s made me a pile of cash. I have a 24-pager that‟s done about $1.3

million since the start of 2008. This one, I probably could have written shorter, but not by much.”

Mike Palmer said: “The best package I wrote in the past year was a 52-page

bookalog, which translates to at least a 25-page letter. You know, I hear this all the time from new copywriters - „Why can‟t we write shorter copy?‟ One

important reason, I tell them, is because good copy must „startle‟ your reader with an idea he‟s never heard before. That‟s the only way to have a

breakthrough promotion. And an idea that truly startles your reader takes a lot of explaining… proof… answering objections. You simply need a lot of

space to get your point across.”

Paul Hollingshead said: “My best mailing recently was a financial package

that ran about 22 pages. In fact, when I look back at most of the financial packages I‟ve written, they typically fall within the 20- to 24-page range.

The main reason, I think, is because that‟s how long it takes to get in all the needed elements of a strong financial sales letter - your promise, your

credibility, the track record, the offer, bonuses, and whatnot. Also, I tend to write in a more conversational „chatty‟ tone, which can lengthen a letter. And

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I make an effort to keep paragraphs very short so there‟s a lot of „white

space‟ in my copy for easier reading.”

You see, direct-response marketing is not about fitting your sales pitch into the small amount of space most people will read. It’s about finding the one

person in a hundred who will give you the time you need to sell him.

Have you ever walked down a city street and seen people canvassing for some charitable, political, or religious cause? What do they do? They say

something – a short, catchy sentence - to get you to stop and listen to their pitch. In most cases – perhaps 99 out of a hundred – passersby won’t give

them the time they need to make the sale. They listen for a few seconds and then shake their heads and go on. But those canvassers are pros. They don’t

worry about the people who don’t have time for them. They focus on the ones who do stop and listen, because those are their prime prospects.

Imagine if, instead, they tried to fit their entire sales pitch into the 10 or 15 seconds they could get by following a prospect partway down the block.

What chance would that strategy have?

It all boils down to this fact: the Internet has changed the world, but it has not changed human psychology. If you are going to convince someone that

he needs something that he really doesn’t need – you need time to do it.

So, Connie, don’t resist this part of the copywriting program. Go with it. Later, after you’ve proven yourself as a master of long copy, you can try

shorter copy and see if it works.

By the way, you should know that copywriters who can write long copy (i.e., want-to-know copywriters) make about twice or three times the money that

need-to-know copywriters make. Keep that in mind as you go through the

AWAI program.

This article was originally published as part of The Golden Thread

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MICHAEL MASTERSON – There is no one more qualified and experienced

than copywriter, entrepreneur, and business-builder Michael Masterson to teach you the art, craft, and business of copywriting.

Michael started his first business – a fifth-grade publishing venture – at age

11.

After finishing grad school at the University of Michigan in 1975, he spent

two years in the Peace Corps, where he began his writing career.

Several years later he was working as a writer for a small newsletter publishing company in Washington D.C. Then, in 1982, he learned the art of

copywriting and launched the first of dozens of successful direct-marketing ventures, many of which have become multi-million dollar companies.

All told, he’s been directly involved in the generation of over ONE BILLION DOLLARS of sales through the mail and online.

He’s also a highly successful author. He’s published more than a dozen

books, including several which have become Wall Street Journal, Amazon.com or New York Times bestsellers.

Today, Michael consults mainly for newsletter publishing giant Agora, Inc., and writes regularly for Early To Rise, one of the most popular self-

improvement newsletters on the Internet, and for The Golden Thread, AWAI’s weekly copywriting newsletter.

But there’s more to Michael Masterson than just his writing and business

skills.

Michael also has a knack for taking just about anyone with a burning desire

to upgrade his lifestyle – no matter what his background or education – and transforming him (or her) into a top-notch copywriter:

He’s the one responsible for transforming Paul Hollingshead from a 35-

year-old minimum-wage grocery store stock boy into a copywriter earning upward of $300,000 a year … and Don Mahoney from a

woodworker to a $300,000-a-year copywriter living in Miami Beach … He’s mentored other copywriters who have gone on to generate

hundreds of millions of dollars in sales each year through their copy …

He’s shown people in their 50s and 60s – people preparing for retirement – how to successfully change careers and become well-paid

freelance copywriters …

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He’s taken young people fresh out of college – with no “life experience”

at all – and turned them into top-notch copywriters and newsletter journalists …

He’s taught housewives, bartenders, and laborers to excel … He’s even helped “professionals” – doctors and college professors –

leave successful careers to enjoy the big money and stress-free lifestyle copywriting offers

Discover how Michael can do the same for you with his

AWAI Accelerated Program For Six Figure Copywriting.

Michael Masterson

"For more great free information on how to take your copywriting career to the next level please visit www.ProCopyWritingTactics.com

and don't forget to collect your free Pro Copywriting Tactics Reports